blink and you might miss it

a whale, a tree, a thought, a boy.
a blur.
this is what my life feels like right now.

school started last wednesday and i was not ready. i am not ready to be over with summer, and with the sunny days we've been having, i have the tiniest scraps of hopes for an indian summer.
francis was very excited for school, and is glad for his teacher, Mr. Bauer, whom we have heard good things. he has familiar friendly faces in his class, and we have hopes that this year will be better than last.
soccer has started already, with the first day of school, so now i dig out my blankets and thermos' for another season of practices and games, and watching...
and today, monday, was the first day we resumed our morning walks to school.
oh, how very out of shape am i!

we have decided to take advantage of the sunny days, and be out and about as much as we can, before the gray and rain tempt us to remain indoors...
we spent labor day weekend in portland, visiting with greg's family and it was sunny and HOT, hotter than seattle, the whole time. greg was able to relax with his brothers, and by relax i mean, sweated and played tennis in the beating sun for hours, then sweated and played golf in the beating sun for hours the next day. francis loved getting to play with his cousins. i relaxed: i sat in the sun and read! we went to the water fountains of downtown portland to cool off, and i took francis to a local river for some swimming, people watching, and shell collecting. very fun. the drive home, as soon as we were out of portland, we hit pouring rain all the way home (not fun!) but, we did get a rare treat of heat lighting and a few lightning bolts, for the 3 hour drive home. it was an onslought of rain and lighting, very thrilling to say the least.

this past weekend, the forecast again said "sunny", so we decided to book a whale-watching trip in the san juans for saturday. we drove to anacortes in the morning, and our trip was at noon. i packed a lunch, and we brought extra layers, which we needed, for though it was sunny and warm on land, on the sea in the boat it was very chilly! whale-watching is hard on the patience of a child; it was a 5 hour trip, and the hours of scanning sea and sky under a beating sun turn quickly into a headache, but francis did very well, and his binoculars kept him very entertained. (thank you, dad!) he was just as excited for the sea birds as for anything else, and we did see harbor seals basking on the small rocky islands. we did see many sightings of minke whales, but sadly no orcas. the guides kept boasting the rarity of "minke whales! in these waters!" but we think they were extra chipper about it to divert the undercurrent of communal disappointment that the resident orcas were nowhere to be seen. we saw one "stinky minke" (they called them) come up out of the water once, his pointy nose, his white throat, but usually it was his small black dorsal fin dipping back into the water. francis missed alot by glancing away the second it would come up out of the water, and turned to see a small hump descending away, but he still got excited. all these fantastic nature shows haven't ruined him completely; he was still excited to see the whales first hand, and that was a gift.

after the tour ended, we were exhausted from beating sun and wind, and took a break in starbucks for frappicinos before heading to Deception Pass to view the bridge. the sun was setting, and it was so beautiful, but i was a bit dismayed to discover another sign of getting old: i was too freaked to cross the bridge! it had even been my idea: "hey, let's cross the bridge; it'll be fun" but as soon as my legs left land and i looked over the water, i started breathing really fast and got real tense real quick! the railing was also not very high for my comfort level and you could barely walk two people side by side, so i held on to the railing and to francis' hood and walked as quick as i could without even looking at the view til i got to the other side. very disappointing! (sigh) on the other side, there is a path down to the beach, where we went and my boys skipped stones til it was dark, then we had to trudge back thru the forest trail in the pitch black, and back across the bridge by the light of oncoming cars and holding my breath, with hopefully francis none the wiser...